Operation Witchflight
by Oriondruid
Summary: Update on the wizarding world post the final battle. Serious in part but mainly a light piece of Ron/Hermione fluff. Hermione finally learns to love flying a broom, thanks to Ron's sneakiness. More chapters ready to upload. Please review. Very mild T.
1. Chapter 1

**Plot Summary.**

Operation Witchflight... Completed.

The story is an update on the wizarding world post the Hogwarts final battle and on the lives of Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione after they leave school and enter the adult world. It's mainly a light piece of Ron/Hermione fluff though, as we follow Hermione finally learning to love flying by broom.. Warning, contains ducks and Ron sneakiness!

**Operation Witchflight **

CHAPTER ONE. New Beginnings.

It had been nearly four years since the events of the Battle of Hogwarts and the world was beginning to change for the better. The tragic deaths had all been marked, not just by the sadly numerous funerals for the many victims, but by a resolve on the part of the survivors to remake the wizarding world and it's society in a way that such a horrible event could never happen again.

The severe battle damage to Hogwarts had been repaired, the school reopened and a new generation of students had begun their education. Whilst the Hogwarts pupils were still divided into the four traditional houses the Sorting Hat was re-tasked, at it's own suggestion, (and with Headmistress McGonagall's full approval), to ensure that in future each house would have a far more balanced mix of students of all types, abilities and attitudes. This was to ensure that no 'blood' divisions or self professed 'elite' cliques could form and fester as before.

Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin Houses now all held a mixture of muggleborns, half blood and pure blood students of all social backgrounds, personality types and of varying academic abilities. In the future it was hoped that, whilst there would still be friendly rivalry and healthy competition between houses, there would no longer be the dangerous animosities that had often existed before.

Students now learned by working and living alongside each other to get on with a wider mix of people and this tended to generate a greater tolerance of the differences between them. The worst incidents that had happened in the first two years since the re-opening were a few bloody noses from minor scraps and a couple of mild hexes, and even the majority of those tiffs had occurred mainly within houses, mostly not between them.

The new changes to Hogwarts had, it seemed, paid other dividends. Not just in school unity and increased inter-house friendships but also in a significant raising of academic standards, as was shown by the results of the new intake's end of year exams. As Headmistress McGonagall said, "A happy school is a productive school."

As to Harry, Ron and Hermione, their education had of course been badly interrupted by their long fight to track down and destroy Voldermort's horcruxes and bring about his downfall. But rather than having to go back to school it was decided that they had already proved themselves exceptionally capable magical students, as good, (if not indeed far better), magic users than most other N.E.W.T. Level qualified witches and wizards and that therefore a return to formal schooling would not be necessary.

Uniquely, instead it was decided that they could, with Ministry approval, receive honorary leaving certificates at N.E.W.T. ability levels assessed by their surviving former teachers and the school's new Headmistress. This practical solution meant that they could move on with their lives and commence their chosen adult careers. Whilst this was a bit of a relief for Harry and Ron, Hermione however totally refused this offer and insisted instead on returning to school to study for and sit the exams. Neither Ron nor Harry were very much surprised at her decision.

Ginny's education, (since she was a year younger than the trio), along with that of many other Hogwarts pupils had also been badly damaged by the horrible regime that had been in charge at the school prior to the final battle. She, along with her friend Hermione and many others, received special tuition at a temporary non residential school set up by the Ministry in London, rather than having to wait two years for Hogwarts to be rebuilt. Nevertheless, despite the disruption to their educations the intensive courses on offer at the temporary school and their natural ability meant that both Ginny and Hermione flew through their N.E.W.T.s in record time and with outstanding marks in their chosen subjects.

The long period which it took for repairs to Hogwarts was necessary, as even by using magically assisted building techniques the battle damage was so extensive that the work to stabilise the structure, (which had been shaken down to it's very foundations), had to be meticulous, for safety reasons. Not only did the repairs take time, but it was also planned that a new Senior Faculty Building would be added to the school. Designed to blend in with the original castle this would be the first major new building at Hogwarts since it had been conceived by it's founders. In effect it would be an autonomous 'Wizarding University' at which students from Hogwarts and other schools of magic around the world could, if they wished, go on to study for newly introduced Magical Degrees, and also do certain vocational courses.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO. Nesting.

Ronald Weasley married Hermione Granger, his school sweetheart, shortly after she passed her N.E.W.T's with honours. They combined their honeymoon with a trip to Australia to retrieve Hermione's parents from their 'exile' and then began their lives together in an idyllic cottage on the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole, not far from the Weasley's family home, The Burrow. It was also just a short apparate from their old school friend Luna Lovegood and her father's rebuilt house.

Ron had joined his brother George (following his twin Fred's tragic death) in the running of the booming joke shop business at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley. Hermione got her 'dream job', as a trainee archivist and librarian at the Ministry of Magic, having decided not to wait for the Senior Faculty Building at Hogwarts to be completed and go on to do any further education after leaving school. It seemed even Hermione had a limit to her appetite for study and wanted to enter the 'real world'.

The Ministry of Magic where Hermione began to work had undergone rapid reforms and improvements since Kingsley Shacklebolt took over permanently as Minister. It was now a dynamic and rapidly changing environment, the old hidebound and corrupt regime had been rooted out and it was a very different place. Indeed it was a place Hermione loved to be working. She happily went off by Floo Network each working day and felt she was doing a worthwhile and fulfilling job, something she'd never previously thought the Ministry could offer her.

Harry Potter and Ginevra Weasley were also married, just after Ginny's eighteenth birthday, once she had finished studying for her N.E.W.T.s. Harry was initially worried they were both still too young for marriage but Ginny gave him one of her loving but forceful 'talking to's'. One such as those that she used to give him after they'd got together in school and had reserved for moments when he was being stubborn or needlessly hesitant.

When Harry expressed his worries to her about an early marriage she said, "Why wait? Ron and Hermione haven't! I thought I'd lost you forever more than once whilst you were off fighting Voldermort and I think I can honestly say that I suffered just as much as you did! It nearly ripped the soul out of me when I thought you'd died! Your not getting away from me again Harry Potter!"

With that she fell into his arms saying, "We both know we are meant for each other and it would be easy for me just to start crying and using emotional blackmail to twist you arm into agreeing to marriage. But you know that's not me, I'm not some scheming little girl. If a little more time is what you need then I'll wait, if that's what it takes for us to be together for ever."

Hearing this however Harry finally saw sense and agreed, realising of course that it's was what he'd really wanted all along as well.

Ginny's parents Arthur and Molly were delighted to give their blessing to their union and the wedding was held at The Burrow. It was kept secret and they had a small low key private ceremony, with only close friends and family invited, since neither Harry nor Ginny wanted a huge wizarding world media event, which it would have undoubtedly otherwise degenerated into.

Harry commenced undergoing Auror training for the Ministry, as this had been his career of choice for some years. Initially being based a lot of the time in the Auror's Department in the Ministry for his preliminary training he was often able to meet up with Hermione for lunch in the Ministry's staff canteen, when not out on 'field duties', accompanying fully qualified Aurors to gain experience. Harry proved a very capable student and became the first winner of the Moody Memorial Shield, as best Trainee Auror in his class at graduation.

On finishing her exams Ginny had also began working in London, as a Trainee Healer at St Mungo's and with her honours N.E.W.T. status they were delighted to have her. She had initially held ideas of playing Quidditch as a pro after leaving school and certainly had been skilled enough to do so. In fact she'd had an offer from a Holyhead Harpies talent scout. She spent a couple of weeks at their training camp, but soon found she could not bear the thought of being split up from Harry again. Luckily both Harry and Ginny found they could still get their 'Quidditch fix' by playing with an 'ad hoc' amateur 'Sunday League' side they formed along with Ron and George Weasley, George's girlfriend Angelina Johnson and a couple of Harry's work colleagues.

Harry and Ginny began living in a vastly improved 12 Grimmauld Place, which had been transformed from it's former dismal self into a thoroughly modern, roomy and comfortable town house. Harry was initially reluctant to move in, fearing bad memories of the loss of Sirius, but Ginny persuaded him it was only sensible as he owned the house and Sirius had obviously wanted him to have it. In any case once modernised 12 Grimmauld Place in no way resembled the gloomy old relic it had once been and for Harry proved to hold only happy memories of his late Godfather.

Their neighbours had initially been surprised that the previously 'missing' number 12 property seemed to have suddenly re-appeared in their midst, but as it was no longer necessary to hide the house the security spells had been removed and the application of mild memory modification spells made the neighbours forget all about it's previous apparent absence. As far as they could now remember the newcomers had simply inherited the house, moved in and done the place up. The charming new young couple were viewed as a friendly and popular addition to the neighbourhood.

The house makeover had brightened up and refurbished nearly all of the old property and all Harry and Ginny's friends who visited them, (particularly those who remembered it in it's previous state whilst it had been the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix), were hugely complimentary on the transformation wrought on the place. This was mainly due, as Harry himself admitted, to Ginny's superb taste.

The only exception to the general modernisation was just one room, which still held the immoveable Black family tree tapestry, (the damage to which Harry had had restored) and which was permanently stuck to the wall. The room also now contained the relocated painting of Sirius's mother. This had been moved into the room and set into another wall. Although to do so had meant calling in some expert wizard builders to move a section of masonry from it's previous location, due to the painting's permanent sticking charm. It had been a noisy and costly job, but at least it now made possible getting in and out of the entrance hallway easily, without being exposed to a tirade of abuse from the picture of Walburga Black, former mistress of the house and 'pure blood' fanatic.

In addition to the painting the preserved heads of the Black family's previous house elves, Kreacher's ancestors, plus as many of the old Black family heirlooms as possible, (which Mundungus Fletcher had stolen), were retrieved and were on display in the room. This was now clean, tidy and comfortably furnished, but still held some of the atmosphere of the old house. The reason why this one particular room had been partially 'preserved' was that it had been given over to Kreacher, the ageing Black family house elf and was now his 'bedsit'. This was a massive step up from the manky old kitchen cupboard he had previously lived in and he was delighted with his 'des res', where he was happily able to live surrounded by his favourite familiar things.

Kreacher had been given this special room of his own in gratitude for his help in tracking down Lord Voldermort's horcrux locket and his bravery in leading the house elves of Hogwarts into battle against Voldermort's dark forces at a pivotal time, which helped tip the scales of the fight. Harry and Ginny had also tried to give Kreacher his freedom for his heroism, but he would have none of it. Indeed he became offended at the very suggestion and refused their offer outright, threatening to go off on one of his tantrums and only calming down again when Harry and Ginny formally accepted his pledge of permanent allegiance.

However, this state of affairs was much to Hermione's initial annoyance when she visited and first heard of it. She still, (if somewhat less militantly), harboured ambitions for the emancipation of all house elves. Indeed she eventually hoped to set up a branch of S.P.E.W. in the Ministry itself one day and lobby for elf rights from the inside when she'd got a bit more Ministry seniority. However, Harry pointed out to her how far Kreacher had come towards Hermione from his previous position of hostility. This was shown by the fact that he now happily accepted her presence as a regular house guest of Harry and Ginny and that he was obviously pleased to see her and to serve her when she and Ron stayed there for their frequent weekend visits to London.

"It just goes to show that you can 'teach an old dog new tricks' Hermione," Harry said. "I don't even have to order Kreacher not to call you a mudblood any more," he laughed. Although to be fair Kreacher and Hermione had already begun to come to a bit of an 'understanding' whilst the trio were hiding out in the house prior to Voldermort's downfall. Kreacher, as it turned out, wasn't such a bad old stick after all.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE. A New Brood.

Hermione awoke on a sunny Sunday morning in early spring feeling great. She and Ron had shared a lovely Italian meal which Hermione had cooked at home the previous evening, they'd got through a fair bit of a gorgeous French wine Fleur had recommended, then made passionate love before drifting off into a blissful sleep.

Ron was still asleep as she quietly got out of bed, attended to her ablutions then went down into the kitchen. "What a lovely day," she thought as she put out a dish of cat food for Crookshanks, who would probably return soon, ravenous from his regular nocturnal 'patrol' of his territory.

She then put the kettle on whilst looking out of the kitchen window across the garden and towards the river bank which their cottage stood by. "Perhaps I will do a bit of gardening later. The weather's good for it and maybe I'll even be able to mug Ron into helping me, rather than having him vegging out on the sofa watching Quidditch DVD's," she thought, smiling.

Hermione made two cups of tea and took them back up to the bedroom, put one on the night stand on Ron's side of the bed, one on her own, then with a giggle she mischievously leapt back into bed, kissing Ron, who woke with a start. "Wake up sleepyhead, you're missing the best bit of the day," she said.

"Bloody hell Hermione!" Ron, who was never the best 'morning person', exclaimed. "Can't you let a bloke sleep? After all, I seem to remember expending quite a lot of energy for your benefit last night." He was, however, smiling as he said it.

"I think you'll find, Ronald Weasley, that the amount of energy expended by BOTH of us last night for our 'mutual benefit' was pretty equal," said Hermione, faking annoyance but spoiling it by grinning. "Anyway, go and have a wee, then come back and drink your tea. Then we'll see if we've both still got a bit of energy left to 'expend' for a while," she cheekily winked at him.

Some while later after 'expending more energy' they were both dressed and sat in the kitchen reading the Sunday Prophet, which the delivery owl had left on the doorstep. They'd split it between them, with Ron reading the sports pages and Hermione the homes and gardens supplement. They had just eaten breakfast, although by the time they'd actually cooked it it was more like brunch. They'd enjoyed their usual Sunday treat of a good fry up, rather than the more healthy breakfast faire Hermione had been able to 'convert' Ron to having the rest of the week.

Hermione said, "I'm going to do a bit of gardening this afternoon, it needs tidying up after the winter and I was hoping you could give me a hand." Ron surprised her by not arguing and saying, "OK, sure, no problem, it's a nice day for it and it'll help me burn off the cholesterol from my gorgeous brecky."

Seizing the unexpected opportunity Hermione immediately took Ron by the hand and led him out into the garden and down to the shed. She opened the door, seized a fork and spade from the rack and handed them to Ron. She said sweetly, "Could you be a honey and dig over the veggie patch for us, whilst I tidy up the rest of the place, we'll need to get some new stuff planted soon."

Ron started digging but realised he'd been conned as soon as he saw Hermione swanning around the rest of the garden, using her wand to prune and dead head the plants, sweep up the winter's detritus, whisk the debris into the compost bin and generally tidying up with a minimum of physical effort.

He watched her for a bit then complained, calling out, "Oi you! You call that work? Here's me slaving away like a navvy and there's you flitting around like a fairy not even working up a sweat! Talk about fair division of labour! Why do I get the feeling I've been mugged?"

"Well you said you needed to burn off some calories," Hermione replied. "Anyway you know there's no easy way to use a wand to dig over the soil and break up the clumps properly Some things just respond better to the physical approach. Besides, you look so hunky with your muscles straining away there," she said, smiling her best 'you wonderful man' smile.

'I'll give you "the physical approach" if I've got any strength left after digging all this lot," Ron said, but smiled back at her. To which Hermione replied, "Promises, promises," and cheekily swinging her hips walked off towards the river bank saying, "I'm just going to check on our little family."

Seconds later Ron heard Hermione yell his name from the direction of the riverbank. Alarmed he dropped his garden fork and ran over towards her. He found her standing by a reed bed pointing at a clump of bloody feathers on the bank.

She looked grief stricken and said, "It looks like a fox has got our poor little family, that plumage must have belonged to Mummy Duck and he probably got the six ducklings too, how sad. It wouldn't have been Crookshanks wading into the reeds to get them, he hates getting his paws wet."

But just then they heard a squeaking sound amongst the reed bed and looking down saw four surviving little baby mallard ducks hiding amongst the stems. Hermione smiled in relief, waved her wand saying "Accio Punnet!" and an old garden basket soared out of the open shed door, across the garden and into her hand. She then levitated the ducklings one by one from the reeds into the basket and said, "At least most of the babies have survived, we'll have to keep 'em in the shed and latch the door closed to keep Crookshanks out, at least until I can have a word with him."

"Surely you don't intend to keep them!" Ron exclaimed. "Merlin's saggy y-fronts Hermione, are you out of your flippin mind, what do you mean, keep 'em? How can we raise four ducklings in the shed when neither of us have a clue about raising ducks? They're not like owls and for that matter we don't even breed bloody owls! That cat of yours would probably sneak in and get 'em eventually anyway. No it's just not practical, they'll have to go to the local wildlife shelter."

But Hermione seemed dead set on raising the little mallards, and said, "Crookshanks is a good cat, if I tell him he's to leave the ducklings alone then he will, he's unusually smart."

Oddly, Ron couldn't deny this as it was true. Crookshanks had never exhibited any specifically magical abilities since Hermione had got him from Diagon Alley, but when they were at Hogwarts he seemed to have been the first to realise that Scabbers, (who at the time was Ron's old pet rat), was in fact an evil Animagus called Peter Pettigrew in disguise. What Ron had originally taken for murderous intent against Scabbers on Crookshanks' part seemed in hindsight to have been more like Crookshanks trying to protect Ron and Hermione from Pettigrew.

Also Crookshanks seemed to have been able to form a friendly bond with Sirius Black and they were seen walking in the school grounds together when Sirius was transformed into his canine form, a most unusual relationship for a cat and dog to have. The cat, it seemed, also knew how to de-animate the Whomping Willow to permit access to the secret passage in it's roots, a trick it appeared somehow to have learned from Sirius.

After these and other more recent displays of the cat's considerable mental abilities they had speculated for a while that Crookshanks might in fact be another Animagus, who had decided to make the transformation to cat form permanent. However it seemed more likely he was in fact half Kneazle, a very intelligent magical animal that could interbreed with normal cats.

"OK Hermione," Ron said. "But even assuming that we can get Crookshanks to leave 'em alone we still don't know anything about rearing ducklings do we?"

"Well it's just as well we are a thoroughly modern wizarding household then isn't it," said Hermione. "You may recall that in the lounge we have a handy little bit of muggle technology called a laptop that is the gateway to a whole cornucopia of knowledge from the muggle's world wide web," she smiled.

This was true, as being muggleborn Hermione was perfectly able to use computers and other such electronic and electrical technologies and had now taught Ron how to do so as well. Having learned from Hermione, Ron now not only knew how to use simple machines like the telephone but other more advanced gadgets. He enjoyed watching DVD's, particularly DVD's of Quidditch matches that had recently become available to witches and wizards and also action movies of the more violent and explosive kind on their large flat screen TV. This was much to Hermione's occasional chagrin, as she preferred wildlife documentaries, costume dramas and current affairs programmes.

Ron was now also competently using a computer, both for pleasure (to play games on) and also in his business life in his partnership with George. Indeed, not to put too fine a point on it, he'd, 'taken to it like a duck to water' and displayed a previously unsuspected talent for web design, a somewhat ironic ability for someone terrified of spiders. For the past week he had been working from home setting up a brand new Weasley's Wizard Wheezes website and online store, on the equally brand new WWWW or World Wide Wizarding Web. This new network now ran in parallel to the normal muggle web, sharing much of the existing infrastructure and secretly renting time on existing servers, with the connivance of the muggle Government.

Their new 'virtual' store Ron and George hoped would supplement and probably eventually supersede a lot of their existing owl order service for their products, cost far less to run, be quicker and so be even more profitable. Thanks to the net they would also soon be able to export more easily and George had his shrewd business brain firmly fixed on the American wizarding market. It was also possible, given the new tendency towards 'openness' that some of their less 'radical' or 'de-tuned' products could possibly even be offered to muggles in the future, if they could get Ministry approval. Something which now, with the changes in Ministry policies by the new administration, no longer seemed completely impossible.

As Ron following Hermione's suggestion went back into the house to look up information about duck husbandry on the net he thought to himself, "Here I've been slaving over a hot keyboard all bloody week and she wants me to carry on doing so on my so-called day of rest! Ah well, I do love her even if she does have some bloody mad ideas and at least it gets me away from digging the bloody veggie patch!"

Meanwhile, Hermione made their new feathered friends comfortable in a big open topped cardboard box in the shed, then set up a well regulated source of warmth for them using a localised reversed entropy thermal spell she'd learned from a new American technomancy book called 'Doing Magic the Quantum Way'. This was a 'new fangled' magical tome she'd recently got from Flourish and Blotts and she had been dying for a chance to try out some of it's spells. She then put a large bowl of water in with the ducklings in case they wanted a swim. Finally she collected up the abandoned fork and spade thinking, "Ah well at least we've got some of it dug." Then shutting the shed door Hermione went back into the house to see what Ron had found out about feeding and raising ducklings.

Ron had got a huge number of links on the screen but they sifted through them together, tracking down the best and most knowledgeable sounding information and printed out several pages of their selections. "Well that should do for now," said Hermione, going off to the kitchen to prepare some suitable duck food.

She found Crookshanks sat by his own food dish, wolfing it down and Hermione said, "I'd like a word with you young sir if I may when you've finished eating, we've got some new additions to the family." Crookshanks briefly stopped eating and looked up at her with a quizzical expression on his distinctive flattened face, as if to say, "What's been occurring in my absence, I can't take my eyes off you lot for one second can I?"


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR. The White Heat Of Technology.

Like Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny many other less hidebound modern young witches and wizards could now see that in some things muggle technology could even beat magic, for instance no successful magical expedition had yet been to the moon, although it was rumoured that the Americans were planning one soon. Even some older witches and wizards could see a place for technology too. Ron's father Arthur Weasley for instance had long since been an admirer of muggle science and technology, even if he didn't understand it much. It was however becoming obvious to many that where the muggle machines could do a better and more efficient job they were rapidly coming into use.

Even the Ministry's new and enlightened administration were coming round to this view. They had authorised alongside the American wizarding authorities and those of several other countries the setting up of the World Wide Wizarding Web. Also a computer network was being installed at the Ministry to take over from the slow, wasteful and clumsy 'flying paper' type internal memos and old fashioned enchanted filing cabinets that still at that time were in use in the building. Once fully operational this network would facilitate faster inter-departmental communications, as well as being used to store and retrieve information more efficiently. It would also be used to let the Ministry more swiftly and surely communicate to the wider world, both muggle and magical. For instance the Minister for Magic would soon no longer have to floo into No. 10 Downing Street to speak with the muggle Prime Minister, in the near future they could simply email each other or hold a teleconference.

A large part of Hermione's new job at the Ministry in fact was helping set up electronic records and an online library for the building. The only unusual problem which the technology had encountered in the building so far was a tendency to 'crash' or fail to 'boot up' in the first place in areas of high magical usage. Indeed it had initially not been rare for a machine to catch fire when too overstressed by a dense 'magical field', but shielding methods had been improved and the 'bug' now seemed fixed.

In the case of individual wizarding households the interaction between domestic levels of magic usage and electronics was rarely a problem. Unless of course someone was silly enough to apparate right next to a working computer. That would still tend to result in expensive burning smells coming out of the circuitry. But most younger wizards and witches were wise enough to learn this was a bad idea.

Even the hallowed halls of Hogwarts itself were soon to get electric lighting and the students and staff would also be able to 'go online' via a dedicated satellite uplink dish, the connection to which was arranged with the co-operation of the muggle government. This was now vitally needed as the new Senior Faculty would soon become a world centre of wizarding excellence and their server would house the world's most comprehensive database and online library of magical information. Appropriately enough the satellite uplink dish itself was fitted to the top of the Astronomy Tower and was needed because no phone lines or mobile phone towers yet existed in the Hogsmeade area. The operating costs of this new communication link would be shared by the residents of Hogsmeade, who also would have internet access by using it. This made the old commercial boast of having branches in London, Paris, New York and Hogsmeade more of a viable reality and guaranteed a great future for the villager's businesses.

The principle modernisation work and cabling to the castle and village had already largely been done during the rebuilding work following the battle and the final few tasks of fitting out the installation would soon be finished. The power itself would be derived from a small, fully automatic and magically disguised hydro electric station in the nearby mountains, producing completely 'green' electricity for the castle and village. To any hikers etc. 'off the beaten track' it would simply look like a normal, if pretty, waterfall. The 'big switch on' and testing phase would be carried out whilst the students were on their summer holidays to avoid further academic disruption.

Hopefully by the next term there would be no need for so many oil lamps, gas lights or candles in the castle or Hogsmeade. With them would go their associated fire hazards, smoke and pollution, old fashioned fossil fuelled lighting would largely be phased out, other than for occasional decorative purposes, making Hogwarts and it's environs a far healthier and safer place.

The rebuilding and improvements at Hogwarts and The Ministry had been funded by the seizure of large amounts of money and assets from deceased Death Eaters, including the discovery of Voldermort's vast hidden fortune, which his career of terror, murder and torture had gained him. Though true to say that Voldermort's primary interest had always been the acquisition of power, not wealth as such, nonetheless because he had killed so may wizards and witches in his rise to power he had also often been able to gain access to their financial assets and had therefore died a very rich man. He had a huge amount of money hidden in many of Gringotts' vaults under various proxy accounts, as a thorough Ministry led audit after his death had revealed.

At the beginning of the investigation the Gringotts goblins claimed they knew nothing of these illegal transactions, but it was well known that most goblins held no great love towards wizards. Indeed it seemed that several of them did not particularly care whether they were dealing with honest wizarding folk or Death Eaters, so long as they were able to profit from the deal. However, as Voldermort had gained control even the goblins of Gringotts had eventually become oppressed by his evil regime and several senior goblins had now decided to help the Ministry investigation in rooting out the most dishonest individuals and helping the bank 'clean up it's act'.

The seizure of the illicit wealth, plus heavy fines and asset confiscation imposed on surviving convicted Death Eaters had not only been able to finance the rebuilding of Hogwarts but also had allowed the setting up of a compensation scheme in the form of the Memorial Fund. This was not only intended to aid the wizarding families of Voldermort's victims, but also those of the huge numbers of muggles that his final terror campaign had killed and injured. Much had been changing in the wizarding world in a very short time, the shattering events of recent years had acted as a catalyst for this change. It had been realised that even the previously 'set in stone' International Statute of Secrecy needed to be reviewed, given how many muggles had died at the hands of dark wizards in the recent tumultuous events and also given the large and steadily increasing incidence of muggleborns that there had been over the last few decades.

For witches and wizards to hide so thoroughly from their fellow humans seemed to be becoming both far harder, less necessary and also morally more difficult to defend. The wind of change was blowing towards a more open future for wizarding kind. Indeed a discrete media free, secret international conference had been organised at the UN to reformulate the magical community's approach to muggle relations and this time not just wizards and witches, but also representatives of the muggle Governments themselves would be participating, giving their opinions and helping forge the new approach for the future.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE. The Grounded Flock.

Meanwhile as a 'quiet revolution' went on around them some months had gone by since the young Weasleys had acquired their brood and the ducklings, one male and three females, grew healthily towards adulthood. They became sleek and efficient swimmers and now roamed free in the garden, happily dabbling and foraging much of their own food in the river.

Crookshanks, far from attacking them as Ron had feared had, it appeared, after his 'little chat' with his mistress, decided to 'adopt' them. He proudly watched over his feathered charges, guarding them from any harm he perceived might befall them. Any strange cats, foxes and even on one memorable occasion a stray dog were robustly 'shown off the premises'. All was well with the four young birds except for one thing, they showed no inclination or ability to fly whatsoever and just happily waddled around all day.

Sometimes they even had to be turfed out of the kitchen to stop them stealing Crookshanks' cat biscuits from his dish, which they'd developed a liking for. Behaviour which he magnanimously tolerated as long as they were swiftly topped up again. The ducks had learned by watching Crookshanks how to get in through the cat flap and sneaked in whenever they thought no-one would notice. They slept at night shut up in a duck house Ron had built for them to keep them safe, but they stubbornly showed no inclination whatsoever to take to the wing, apparently not even realising they were birds and possibly even thinking they were Crookshanks' babies.

Hermione was worried at their apparent lack of interest in flight though and one Tuesday evening after dinner said to Ron, "I think we've spoiled our feathered friends, they're too comfy here and should have learned to fly by now. Not that they'll need to migrate like the majority of their fellows do for the winter. They know they won't go hungry here and they will be able to shelter in their duck house in bad weather, but I still think it would be good for them to learn to fly. If for no other reason than to get them fit, they're beginning to look like they're being fattened up for Christmas."

"Now there's an idea," joked Ron, provoking a punch in the arm from Hermione. Actually he was very fond of the little flock. When Hermione was away at work and when he found himself working from home he would often take a break and walk down to the river to feed them.

"What do you suggest then," Ron asked Hermione. "How can we teach 'em to fly?"

Hermione replied, saying, "Well, I've been giving it a bit of thought actually. How about starting off by treating them to a few short broom flights as passengers, so that they get used to being up in the air and see how they react to start with. You could fit a small cage to a broom handle using a temporary sticking charm and carry one or two up at a time for short hops."

"Good idea my clever wife, go on," said Ron.

Hermione continued saying, "Once they get a bit used to the idea you could begin to drop them from gradually increasing heights and speeds, so that they have to learn to flutter down. Starting at first from stationary and just a few feet up and gradually going higher and faster. Eventually they'll hopefully catch on and learn to fly for themselves. I'm sure that'll work."

"Brilliant," Ron said. "So when are we going to get started?"

"What do you mean when are WE going to get started?" Hermione said, visibly blanching. "You're the flying expert in this household, what with being a school Quidditch hero, 'Weasley Is Our King' and all that! As to me I've hardly so much as touched a broomstick since I took my basic flying lessons at Hogwarts. You know I hated it from the off. You remember full well Ron that the last time I flew on anything using magic was ages ago. Even then I was disguised as Harry and wasn't actually on a broom but on a thestral with Kingsley. I kept throwing up through all the violent evasive manoeuvres that we needed to do to escape the Death Eater ambush and I vowed I'd never go flying again on anything other than a nice big, safe, sensible, muggle airliner with proper seats, like we did on our honeymoon flight to Australia. I'm glad to say that I don't even OWN a broomstick!"

Pausing for breath and calming down a bit Hermione then went on more calmly to say, "Honestly Ron, I'm quite happy apparating to get to places I need to go or using the Floo Network. I'll even tolerate using Portkeys at a pinch, though they tend to make me dizzy, but you can stick flippin brooms, they're your department!"

Ron outwardly gave every appearance of agreeing with her outburst, since she was so adamant, but smiled inwardly, keeping a secret thought he'd formulated to himself as they'd talked. He thought, "We'll see my girl, those ducks aren't the only things that are gonna learn to enjoy flying over the next few weeks! Calls herself a witch and can't even ride a broom properly, well that's about to change or my name isn't Ronald Weasley! Let's see if I can outsmart the 'brightest witch of her age' with Operation Witchflight!"


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX. Ways And Means.

The next day Ron was again at home, doing some more work on the shop's website which had developed a couple of 'bugs', whilst Hermione was away in London working at the Ministry. He bashed away at the computer until lunchtime and then thought, smiling to himself, "It's time to put part one of my dastardly plan into operation, now I've worked out the ways and means."

Ron got up from his desk, walked out into the garden, turned on the spot and apparated. Upon emerging from the familiar, but always unpleasant, compressing blackness he was pleased to see his navigation had been spot on and he'd had arrived at the rebuilt Lovegood House. The severe damage the exploding Erumpent horn had caused had now been completely repaired. He walked up to the door of the eccentric round tower like building and could hear from inside the sound of the old fashioned printing press running off the latest edition of The Quibbler. Luna's father who was named Xenophilius had long since been forgiven for his attempted betrayal of Harry to the Death Eaters, as it was obvious that at the time he had been acting under extreme coercion, there having been vile death threats made by Voldermort's supporters against his kidnapped daughter which put him in an impossible position.

However, after the Death Eaters had been foiled in their capture attempt at the house Xenophilius had been falsely held in Azkaban prison. Whilst being held there he unfortunately had suffered a stroke from which he had never fully recovered. Luckily he lived through it but now tired easily, so his daughter Luna had assumed more responsibility for the magazine. Under her co-editorship it was flourishing and whilst it still could not be called exactly a 'mainstream' magical publication it's readership had expanded quite a bit. Nowadays alongside it's original offbeat articles regarding Crumple Horned Snorkacks, Nargles etc. it also had stories of wider appeal and even a wizarding society gossip column. Luna had shown quite a flare for publishing and The Quibbler was flourishing.

Ron walked up to the door of the house and knocked loudly, so as to be heard over the sound of the press. Luna shortly opened the door looking as wistfully beautiful as ever. She said, "Hello Ronald, it's lovely to see you, this is unexpected, come in and have some gurdyroot tea, Daddy and I have just put a brew on." Whilst wincing inside at the very thought of the foul tasting stuff Ron smiled and entered the house saying, "No I won't thanks all the same Luna, I just had some tea and some lunch before I left home, I've been working there today. I only popped over to see you and ask if you had a spare broom I could borrow for a couple of weeks, I'm trying to encourage Hermione to get back into flying one and it's not worth buying a new one for her if she decides she still doesn't like it."

Just then Xenophilius Lovegood came into the kitchen saying, "How's the tea coming along Luna dear? I'm parched." Upon noticing Ron's presence he said, "Hello Ronald, it's great to see you my boy, how's that lovely wife of yours? We haven't seen you both here for a while, you must come over to dinner one evening."

Desperate not to have to do so, since neither Xeno nor Luna had any culinary abilities whatsoever and thinking fast Ron replied, "It's nice to see you as well sir, I was just saying to Hermione the other day that we should put together a dinner party at our place in a few weeks, and invite yourself and Luna, as well as my Mum and Dad. Plus Ginny and Harry if they can all come. How does that sound?"

Xenophilus replied, "That would be splendid Ronald. Luna and I don't get out so much as we used to nowadays and if we don't watch out we'll both end up going barmy stuck here with just our own company. Also it'll be nice for Luna to mix with some people her own age, instead of being stuck here with her old father, slaving away over a hot press all the time."

Ron suppressed a laugh at what old Xeno had just said, knowing that most wizards who knew the Lovegoods thought they were pretty 'barmy' anyway. However, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry had all befriended Luna at school and knew that in fact, whilst she held to many of her father's 'unusual' ideas, she was a very bright person, a phenomenal witch and a fierce friend to have backing you up in a tight corner.

"That's great then," said Ron. "I'll talk with Hermione, set a date for the party and we'll send you an invite by owl to let you know when." (There being no new fangled muggle technology in the Lovegood house). "Meanwhile Luna," Ron said, "How's about that broom, have you got a spare old one I can borrow for a while?"

"You need a broom do you dear boy?" Xenophilius said. "Why not use mine for a while? I haven't flown in years, the poor old eyesight isn't what it was due to the strain of all the proof reading and I'm afraid of hitting power lines and treetops if I do fly. I prefer to apparate side-along with Luna when I travel these days."

"That would be wonderful sir, thank you very much." Ron replied. "I'll bring it back to you in a few weeks." Xenophilius answered saying, "No hurry Ronald, no hurry, at all, as and when it suits you dear boy, I've no real use for it anymore."

Luna brought Ron her father's broom, a nice tidy looking example of an old Cleansweep. Ron gave them both his thanks, he shook Xenophilius's hand and kissed Luna goodbye as she let him out of their house. But she called him back just as he was leaving saying, "Hold on, please Ronald. I've been promising Hermione some cuttings of our dirigible plums, so please take her these." She handed him a basket with some small pots containing plants in them. Ron hung the basket from the broomhandle and flew the broom the mile or so cross country back to his own cottage. The vintage broomstick performed perfectly admirably on the way back home, it was stable and easily controllable, if not exactly fast. Ideal for a learner in fact, Ron thought, smiling. "I''ll hide it behind the workbench in the shed so's Hermione doesn't spot it before the weekend."

That Saturday morning Ron decided to 'strike while the iron was hot' and put the next part of his fiendish plan into operation. Hermione came out to watch as he attached a small cage, with two compartments just big enough for two of the ducks onto the underside of his broomhandle with a temporary sticking charm. He then placed two of the female birds into the cage and gently took to the air with his 'cargo'. Initially they panicked a little, flapping around a bit in the confined space of the cage and quacking loudly, but soon settled down and seemed quite happy to watch the scenery passing below them.

He flew them around the roof of the cottage and the garden for a while to let them get used to the idea then landed back down again. Meanwhile Hermione had been able to catch the remaining male and female mallards and they were swapped for the first two and the process repeated, with similar results. The ducks it appeared had suffered no trauma from this novel experience and so Ron and Hermione decided to move on to the next phase of their 'flight training', immediately after lunch.

Whilst sat outside in the garden having lunch Ron said to Hermione, "You know Hermione, this will go much quicker if you could give me a hand in taking them up for their first few flights. We could train em all at the same time then. There'd be nothing for you to worry about though, as we'd only be dropping 'em off from about six feet to ten feet or so up to start with and even you could manage that much. Go on, I dare you!" Ron was sneakily relying on Hermione's strong competitive streak to goad her into agreeing.

"Ronald," Hermione countered, "You know there's no way I could help, even if I wanted to, we haven't got another broom, I told you, I haven't owned one for years."

"Funny you should say that Hermione," said Ron. "As I told you, Luna flew over here the other day whilst you were at work to drop you off those plant cuttings, I heard her arrive since the window was open and she was talking to Crookshanks and the ducks. You know how Luna is with animals. Anyway, we had a chat and then she apparated back home. I forgot to mention to you that she left her broom behind, I only found it leant aganst a tree once she'd gone. She probably even forgot she'd come here on it. I put it in the shed and was going to give it back to her this weekend, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind you using it for a bit. These days she mostly flies on Nightwings, that thestral Hagrid gave her, in any case. I'm sure she'll come back and pick the broom up if she needs it urgently."

Hermione looked at Ron suspiciously, but couldn't quite put her finger on anything specific in his story, since Luna absent-mindedly leaving her broom behind was not unlike her, she was still a bit unworldly and easily preoccupied. Indeed whilst at Hogwarts Luna was forever losing her property, although she tended to blame this on Nargles. Hermione also knew that since getting Nightwings, her female thestral, that she had become Luna's generally preferred mode of aerial transport.

Hermione thought this over for a while then, apparently still a bit reluctant, said, "Well, as long as I only have to go straight up and down for a few feet I don't mind so much, if it'll help speed up the training, but I'm really out of practice and don't want to do much more than that. I swore I wouldn't do it again, but I do want to get those ducks flying."

"Your a diamond my love,"' said Ron. "It'll halve the time the training takes if two of us do the first few drops, thank you my gorgeous wife." He leant across the garden table and kissed her, whilst smirking internally to himself. Things were going to plan!

"By the way Hermione," Ron went on, "Whilst here Luna suggested we come over to their place to dinner, she'd really love to see you. For obvious reasons I didn't think you'd want to go though, but I had a bit of a brainwave. I suggested that we would like to have her over here for dinner to see Harry and Ginny as well."

"Trouble is she was a bit reluctant to leave her Dad by himself, since he sometimes has 'funny turns' since he had the stroke. So I said they could both come over and that we could make it a bit of a social event, since Harry and Ginny are coming down from London to stay for the weekend in three weeks anyway. We could invite my Mum and Dad over as well, to give Xeno someone to talk to about the old days with and make it a bit of a party."

"Sounds great to me Ron," Hermione replied. "It's better than going over to the Lovegood's for dinner anyway." She smiled, but then shuddered at the very thought of eating their 'food'. "But one thing though"' Hermione said, "You'll be helping me with the cooking. I must get it all ready before your Mum and Dad arrive, or else Molly will insist on 'helping out', that is to say taking over, you know your Mum. I want her to relax whilst she's here, I won't have my guests slaving away over a hot oven!"

"That's fine by me too Hermione, I know what Mum's like, talk about 'always find her in the kitchen at parties' she's a cookaholic," Ron laughed. Then he said. "OK, now then, having finished lunch let's see if you can remember how to get a broomstick off the ground these days. Follow me Mrs Weasley, chocks away!"

Hermione nervously and somewhat reluctantly trudged behind him towards the broom in the garden shed, obviously not looking forward to what she was about to do very much and still with a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that somehow she might have been conned.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN. Duck Bombing.

"That's great Hermione," Ron said a little later. "You seem to still remember the basics well enough," he said as he hovered next to her about six feet off the ground. Hermione nevertheless looked a bit nervous but was well in control of the broom and felt better than she had expected to, probably due to her having cast a cushioning charm on the ground beneath herself.

"We'll not need to go much higher than this in any case for the first few duck drops," said Ron. Then encouragingly he asked, "Perhaps just a little bit higher though, how about ten feet?" Hermione replied, "I'll give it a try and they then rose a few more feet into the air. "This is as far as I'll go for now," said Hermione. "I want to get the other cage attached to this handle, to see how it affects the broom's stability. I'll be OK at this height as long as it doesn't make it wobble too badly."

"It should be OK," said Ron. "After all, mine's hardly affected at all even with the ducks in the cage and my Starblazer's a 'hot' racing broom. That old Cleansweep is a model noted for it's stability, not the fastest thing in the sky but a nice steady plodder. Let's land and attach the cage."

Some minutes later with the birdcage attached to her broomhandle Hermione was back at about the same altitude as she had been to previously. "How is it," asked Ron, "It looks stable enough." Hermione replied, "It's not too bad at all Ron. To be honest I can't really notice it's there in fact, although of course there's no ducks moving about and weighing it down at the moment."

"You should be OK with them on-board as well," said Ron. "They aren't very heavy and they haven't got a lot of manoeuvring room in the cage. Shall we give it a go?"

The ducks had now been captured in a magically created pen about thirty feet square which had been cast by Hermione, taking up almost the entire garden lawn, it's invisible 'walls' were about four feet high and prevented the birds from bolting for the river.

Landing once again next to each other they loaded two ducks each into the under slung cages on each broom and then, with a degree of trepidation on Hermione's part took off and hovered about six or seven feet up side by side. "OK then," said Ron. "Hold on tight to your broomhandle with your left hand, grab the duck of your choice by the scruff of the neck with your right hand and on the count of three drop the bugger!"

They did as Ron suggested and both birds, wings flapping madly and quacking in alarm fluttered to the ground in what, whilst it might not have been a 'controlled flight', was at least not quite a plummet. They then repeated the action with the second set of birds, with identical results. Landing and checking the birds showed they had suffered no injuries, except perhaps to their dignity, so the cycle was repeated a few times at six or seven feet, until the birds seemed to be taking the experience more calmly. Then Ron and Hermione increased the altitude of the drops, first to about ten feet.

They noticed that not only did the birds not seem to mind the greater height they seemed to have time to be able to control their descents much better from ten feet. They still weren't 'flying' as such but seemed to be beginning to get a little lift and glide in their fall. After several such drops Ron and a far more 'broom confident' Hermione decided to 'call it a day'. They set down and released the ducks to the river.

However, before putting the brooms away Ron said, "That was great, they've done so well. It went even better than I'd expected and not only for the ducks. Hermione, you were wonderful on that broom as well my love, I'm proud of you." And he kissed her.

He went on to say, "It'd be a shame if you had to stop now though, but unless you can go a bit higher then I'll have to carry on the training by myself, would you give it a go and try coming up to about roof height with me just before we go in?"

Hermione had enjoyed the afternoon very much, far more than her school flying lessons, probably because putting it to a practical use distracted her from her initial nerves. Her fear of broom flying hadn't raised it ugly head after the first few ascents because she had become so engaged in the duck training, so gathering her courage she agreed to try going higher. Ron and Hermione then vertically ascended on their broomsticks side by side until they were at about the height of the cottage's chimney. Initially feeling a bit nervous and clinging on tightly Hermione took a look around and then visibly relaxed and smiled saying, "What a lovely view from here Ron, look along the river it really is very pretty, even better than the view from our bedroom window."

"Well that's enough for today my lass," Ron said to her with a grin, "We don't want you getting too cocky, you'll be beating me at Quidditch next and only Harry and Ginny are allowed to do that!" Then, landing alongside his wife Ron smiled, thinking to himself "That was Phase One of Operation Witchflight successfully completed, next we go to Phase Two!"

After her afternoons exertions Hermione had a good long soak in the bath to get the aches and pains of the day out of her body, particularly the specific ache that people who didn't fly brooms very often tended to get, the one known as 'Broomstick Bum' in the wizarding world. She eventually got out of the bath, wrapped a towel around her copious auburn locks and put on a fluffy dressing gown. Calling, 'Bathroom's free,' down the stairs to Ron she said, 'I can't be bothered cooking tonight can you?'

Ron replied, "Nope, I'm too knackered," as he came up the stairs. Reaching the landing he kissed her then said, "Let's order a takeaway, fancy Chinese?" Hermione replied, "That would be lovely. I'll order it Ron whilst you have a soak, what do you want, your usual?" "Yep," Ron replied, "But make sure they send enough prawn crackers this time, they're always too stingy."

Later, having had a good meal and washing it down with some a lager and a firewhiskey each they went to off bed and after having made gentle and somewhat sleepy love, they drifted off into a warm, well satisfied slumber.

On the Sunday morning in the bright summer sun they resolved to carry on with their flock's 'flight training' moving on to a higher level of drop. Ron said, "Let's give 'em a couple more static drops from about ten feet again to remind 'em what to do, then fifteen and finally twenty feet or so."

This all went to plan and by mid afternoon the young birds were beginning to show a fair degree of mastery in the making of controlled landings. Taking a break Ron sat outside with Hermione on the terrace, both of them swigging tall glasses of iced pumpkin juice and Pimms, a concoction of their own devising they'd both grown fond of whilst on their honeymoon.

Ron looked at Hermione and said, "Excellent, I think that's about as far as we can go with static drops, they seem to have the hang of landing down pat, next they need to learn about forward movement. They need to be released from a moving broom, so's they can get the idea of forward flight and get a bit more lift. I think it'll need to be done over the river, so's they don't hurt themselves too much if they muck it up to start with. Starting up slow and building up the speed should work out OK."

"Hold on a minute Ronald," said Hermione with a note of concern in her voice. "I'm not sure if I can safely fly a broom in horizontal forward flight yet. I think I need some practice before I try to launch the ducks."

Ron smiled at her and replied, "Oh that's fantastic Hermione! I thought I'd be doing the next bit by myself, but if you really want to help that'd be great!" Hermione smiled at him and said, "Well, seeing as I've got this far into this mad process without falling off and breaking my silly neck, I may as well stick with it!"

"I'm sure you'll be fine honey," Ron said. "In fact I've noticed you've unconsciously been laterally moving your broom about quite a bit anyway, all you need is a bit of practice. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time. OK then, I'll give you a bit of a refresher course in flight control before we start trying it out on the ducks." Ronald was right, the 'refresher course' worked quickly and Hermione picked up a good beginner's grasp of controlled flight in no time. After just an hour or so's instruction she was able to skim her broomstick along about twenty five feet or so above the river at up to thirty miles an hour.

It was time to start 'Duck Bombing' as they'd had started calling it. The phrase came about when Ron recalled a muggle movie called The Dambusters that he'd recently seen on TV and jokingly said, "Let's hope they don't just hit the water and bounce like some sort of Barnes Wallis bouncing bomb!" And so 'Duck Bombing' became the new name for their training method. The under slung cages were modified so that their bottoms could open just like bomb bays, letting both ducks out at once, rather than having to grab them from the top and drop them one by one by hand.

Their first run was slow, they skimmed along the river at only about ten miles an hour twenty five feet up and released their ducks, which spread their wings, glided for a short distance and then landed near perfectly, if a little heavily, on the water.

The couple were jubilant as they picked the birds out of the river with their wands, put them back in the cages and returned to the starting place for another duplicate run. This time the ducks were seemingly 'getting their eye in' for water landings and all four performed brilliantly.

Gathering them up again and coming around for a faster run the couple released their birds at about twenty miles an hour. This resulted in an even longer glide and more controlled perfect landings. "They're just getting better and better Ron!" An even more jubilant Hermione beamed.

"OK then, let's see how they do at more realistic flying speeds," said Ron. 'Thirty miles an hour from forty feet this time."

"That's a bit high and fast for me Ron," Hermione said. But Ron replied, "You're doing great honey. This is just the last step and then our flock will 'win their wings', I'm sure of it. You'll be fine, trust me. Let's see that Gryffindor courage of yours."

"OK then Ron, I'll give it a go," said Hermione bravely. She then smiled saying, "At least if I fall off I'll land in the river and I'm a good swimmer." "That's my girl," Ron replied.

They lined up for the fast run and released their birds as they got to the straight stretch of water by the cottage, but this time something changed, instead of simply gliding in for a landing the birds began to flap their wings and for a hundred metres or so distance were in proper 'powered' flight. They then let down onto the water as a flock, and started quacking and dabbling happily to themselves.

"Oh you darlings!" Exclaimed Hermione with tears of joy in her eyes.

As they landed by their cottage Hermione said, "Did you see that Ron, they were flying, really flying that time!" "They sure were Hermione," Ron replied. "And so were you my love!"

Hermione looked startled at his words, as if she hadn't realised, then replied, "I was wasn't I Ron? Thank you for teaching me how, and thank you on behalf of our feathered friends." She fell into his arms and kissed him passionately.

After some unmeasurable blissful time they broke the embrace and Hermione said, "Do you think they'll get the hang of taking off for themselves now?"

"I'm sure they will," replied Ron. "All they need to do is build up their flight muscles a bit and they'll be winging around the place like veterans, I doubt they'll move away though. We've probably got 'em here for life, they know where they're well off. After all where else will they have a bodyguard who'll let 'em nick his cat biscuits?"


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT. The Plot Revealed.

It was a late Friday afternoon nearly three weeks later that Harry and Ginny Potter apparated into the garden of Ron and Hermione's cottage, They were still in their work clothes but had their weekend bags with them. Ron had just got home from working with George in their joke shop in Diagon Alley, but Hermione had taken a days holiday at home for a change, fancying a long weekend.

Ron greeted his sister and best friend warmly and said, "Stick you bags in the guest room, By the way, I talked George and Angelina into joining us for tomorrow night's party. George will be shutting up shop early tomorrow afternoon and they've got the other spare bedroom. Hermione should be back soon, I think she's off flying with the ducks."

Harry and Ginny looked at Ron a bit quizzically but went upstairs to put their bags in their bedroom.

Coming back down they found Ron sat out on the terrace in the sunny garden with four glasses and a large pitcher of pumpkin juice and Pimms. He poured Harry and Ginny each a tall drink saying, "Give that a go guys, Nectar of the Gods that is!"

"Er, Ron," said Ginny sipping her drink and apparently approving it. "Either we're going bonkers or when we arrived you said Hermione is off somewhere flying with some ducks. Or did you mean she's 'away with the fairies' after drinking too much of this stuff ?" she said smiling.

"You'll see in a minute," Ron replied. "They should be back soon, Hermione should be here by now, she knows you're coming, but as a 'born again flyer' she tends to lose track of time."

Just then a distant quacking could be heard and then in a rush of wings the four ducks hove into view, streaking low and fast around the river bend, led by Hermione going as quickly as the old broom could carry her.

"See, I told you she'd soon be here," said Ron, beaming at Harry and Ginny's astonished expressions seeing Hermione land on the lawn. "We'll all just get spruced up and changed, then make our way to the village pub then shall we? The Golden Phoenix do great pub grub and I'm buggered if I'm cooking tonight as well as for the party tomorrow. It'll be my treat, the new online store is beginning to rake in a fortune and George is smiling at me all the time, it's quite unnerving!" And they all laughed.

The following night Luna and Xenophilius Lovegood plus Molly and Arthur Weasley along with the two additional guests who'd arrived late that afternoon George Weasley and his girlfriend (soon to be wife) Angelina Johnson all joined Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione for a lively dinner party. After a lovely meal outside on the terrace on the warm summer's evening they all went back inside and sat down in the lounge in a circle to play Magical Pursuit, a wizarding game that was a variation of one invented by muggles and much in vogue at the time.

"The answer's a hippogriff," said Ron. "Now gimme me a segment!"

Later, and after Hermione had (as usual) won the game, it was firewhiskeys all round as people chatted. Hermione piped up saying to Luna, "Oh by the way Luna, did you notice you left your broomstick here a few weeks ago."

Luna replied, "I can't remember doing that, are you sure it's mine?"

"Ron said it's yours, I hope your not angry but I've been using it a bit over the last few weeks since I've been getting into flying, but Ron said you wouldn't mind as you've got Nightwings now."

"No, of course I don't mind that you've been using it Hermione, if it's mine. I do have Nightwings now and she's beautiful. We've just found out she's in foal! She must have been so ever since Hagrid sent her down for me from the Forbidden Forest herd, so we should hear the patter of tiny hooves soon." Luna, smiled happily.

Hermione, who now could see thestrals due to unfortunately witnessing some of the tragic deaths during the Battle of Hogwarts, thought to herself, "Only Luna would describe a thestral as beautiful, but it's true they do have a certain gentle gothic elegance."

"Anyway," Luna went on, "My broom's still at home as far as I know, but if it is here I'll happily take it back. I don't want my lovely Nightwings exerting herself too much carrying me around in her condition, she'll be getting a bit too big soon."

"I'll go and fetch it then Luna and you'll see, it's yours, though It's been a godsend through these past three weeks." Said Hermione going out to get it from the cupboard.

Ron meanwhile didn't hear this exchange, as he was reliving an old Quidditch match that he had played with George and Angelina. Neither did Xenophilius hear what had been said between Luna and Hermione, as he was pontificating one of his current favourite strange theories to Arthur and Molly.

Hermione soon returned carrying the Cleansweep and everyone looked round as she entered the room saying, "Here, it is Luna, told you it was yours."

"No it isn't Hermione, I thought so, it's the one Ron borrowed from Daddy," replied Luna. "She's right," chipped in Xenophilius. "It's my old Cleansweep, didn't Ronald tell you he'd borrowed it from me for you to use?"

Catching on rapidly to having been tricked and looking furious Hermione angrily replied, "No he bloody didn't!" But then swiftly her entire demeanour changed and she began to laugh uncontrollably. She eventually got her breath back and exclaimed, "Ronald Bloody Weasley! You mugged me didn't you? You're a complete git!" But she was smiling at him as she said it.

For a moment Ron had looked like a naughty schoolboy that had been caught out in some wrongdoing, but once Hermione started laughing he soon realised he was not in trouble and said, "So you're not angry about 'Operation Witchflight then?"

"Oh, so that's what you called your little scheme was it? But no I'm not angry with you, how could I be? You managed to get our little flock and me flying at the same time and I love you for it, but you're still a complete git though!" She said smiling.

Xenophilius laughed then spoke up saying, "So you are happy with the broom are you Hermione? I never use it any more so you might as well keep it as a gift." "Thank you so much Xenophilius, Hermione replied, "It's a wonderful broom and thanks to my sneaky husband it has given me a freedom I never knew before these past few weeks."


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE. What Have I Done!

Later that night after Arthur, Molly, Luna and Xenophilius had apparated back to their homes and the other two couples had retired to their own rooms Ron and Hermione were talking softly in bed together.

Hermione said, "I don't yet know exactly how I'll get you back for your little plot but I'll think of something appropriate, Operation Witchflight indeed!" And she chuckled.

"Well as long as your revenge doesn't include spiders then I suppose you're perfectly entitled to get me back," Ron laughed. "At least I finally managed to outwit 'the brightest witch of her age' and in front of witnesses too!" Ron smiled.

"OK, but don't get too cocky or my revenge will be cruel and terrible." Hermione joked. "You'll wish Lord Voldermort was after you again instead."

"Oh there's is one thing," Hermione said. "The next time we are in London for a weekend at Harry and Ginny's place you're going to be taking me to Diagon Alley."

"Not MORE bloody books!" Ron said, feigning annoyance.

"No Ronald, this time you'll be taking me to get a new Starblazer 2. I didn't want to offend Xeno and his kind offer, but his old Cleansweep is too bloody slow now for my liking, we'll just keep it as a spare. It may come in handy one day. I've been reading your What Broom magazine and the new Starblazer looks really hot! It's far quicker than your old Starblazer 1's nought to sixty time, climbs like a rocket and handles like a muggle jet fighter. I'll teach those bloody ducks not to try and overtake me!" Hermione beamed.

"Sounds to me as if we'd better get one each then. I'll trade in my old one, I'm not having my wife burn me off! It's just as well the new internet store's bringing in a fortune."

"Well that's just fine, matching brooms would be great, I'll have a pink one and you can have a blue one." Hermione laughed and went on to say, "I wonder if Ginny, Harry, George and Angelina will fancy a little friendly three-a-side Quidditch with us tomorrow afternoon? It wouldn't take 'em long to apparate off and fetch their brooms."

"What have I done? I've unleashed a bloody monster!" Ron said, in mock horror. Then he smiled, kissed Hermione and clicking Dumbledore's old deluminator he shut off the light.


End file.
